Migrating Windows user to Mac OS X on a MacBook?

[Ant]

Hello.

I have a client (not a computer/techie expert) who is interested in
going from Windows world (3.x, 98 SE, 2000, and XP) to Mac OS X. He
does have little experience with Mac OS X from his office and he only
does English, but he is more of a PC user. I am wondering if this is
suitable for him. This is what he does on his PCs (notebooks/laptops
and desktops) outside of work (home mostly):

1. MS Office 2000-2003. He shares a lots of English and asian (mostly
Chinese and Korean) documents between people (mostly MS products). I
know MS Office exists for Mac OS X.
2. Read, write/type, and print Chinese and Korean documents and Web
pages and software that use asian characters in datas). He used both
MS IME (does Mac OS X comes with one?) and TwinBridge software (mostly
for programs that can't display asian characters correctly like in
Palm software with asian datas from Palm Treo 680--CJKOS; TwinBridge's
technical support said no products for Apple OS').
3. Surf the Web and use Webmails via wireless connections (at home,
WEP -- the most it can go on his old WAP). He is used to Firefox v2
and IE6.
4. Shopping online.
5. Palm Treo 680 software and third party programs for Hotsync and
stuff via USB.
6. Watch DVDs, video files, streaming videos from the Internet, etc.
7. Easy to use computer and requires very little support from people.
8. Compatible with his old USB printers (e.g., Epson Stylus Photo
785EPX from 2001 or so?).
10. Easy to do encryption and security on datas. I had to do a lot of
malware cleanups (e.g., trojans) on his Windows computers. Quite
annoying even though I secured with bunch of programs, hosts file,
etc.
11. CD and DVD burnings. I recall Mac OS X 10.2 didn't come with one
on my old PowerBook G4.
12. Plenty of USB ports (no external hubs to carry) for his mice,
iPod, Palm Treo 680, printer, etc.

Prices isn't an issue either. I assume a MacBook Pro is enough to be
light, small, and fast for lots of travelling around the world.

Thank you in advance. :)

[manchucka]

Here are some thoughts:

> 1. MS Office 2000-2003. He shares a lots of English and asian (mostly
> Chinese and Korean) documents between people (mostly MS products). I
> know MS Office exists for Mac OS X.

-Office 2008 is new to the scene and pretty nice, although it is not
as feature-rich as Office 2007 on Windows (for example, no option to
embed fonts)
-NeoOffice (free) is worth a look
-Mellel for technical, serious writing

> 2. Read, write/type, and print Chinese and Korean documents and Web
> pages and software that use asian characters in datas). He used both
> MS IME (does Mac OS X comes with one?) and TwinBridge software (mostly
> for programs that can't display asian characters correctly like in
> Palm software with asian datas from Palm Treo 680--CJKOS; TwinBridge's
> technical support said no products for Apple OS').

-built-in IME is quite nice. No need for TwinBridge (thank god!)
-many swear by QIM ($20) http://glider.ismac.cn/RegQIME.html
I prefer the free Fun Input Toy http://fit.coollittlethings.com/

> 3. Surf the Web and use Webmails via wireless connections (at home,
> WEP -- the most it can go on his old WAP). He is used to Firefox v2
> and IE6.

no problems here

> 4. Shopping online.

of course

> 5. Palm Treo 680 software and third party programs for Hotsync and
> stuff via USB.

Yes, although regrettably you will need a third-party solution to get
acceptable syncing: Missing Sync for Palm

> 6. Watch DVDs, video files, streaming videos from the Internet, etc.

yep

> 7. Easy to use computer and requires very little support from people.

yep

> 8. Compatible with his old USB printers (e.g., Epson Stylus Photo
> 785EPX from 2001 or so?).

yep

> 10. Easy to do encryption and security on datas. I had to do a lot of
> malware cleanups (e.g., trojans) on his Windows computers. Quite
> annoying even though I secured with bunch of programs, hosts file,
> etc

Encryption: http://www.truecrypt.org/

Malware: very little, but bound to be more as OS X becomes more
ubiquitous

.
> 11. CD and DVD burnings. I recall Mac OS X 10.2 didn't come with one

Yes, DVD burning only possible with Superdrive (all MB Pros have this,
only some MacBooks do)

> 12. Plenty of USB ports (no external hubs to carry) for his mice,
> iPod, Palm Treo 680, printer, etc.

3 USB, 1Firewire...could be better, but passable

> Prices isn't an issue either.

Good, cause it's going to cost him :)

-Manchucka http://esinophile.wordpress.com/

[Ant]

> > 1. MS Office 2000-2003. He shares a lots of English and asian (mostly
> > Chinese and Korean) documents between people (mostly MS products). I
> > know MS Office exists for Mac OS X.
>
> -Office 2008 is new to the scene and pretty nice, although it is not
> as feature-rich as Office 2007 on Windows (for example, no option to
> embed fonts)
> -NeoOffice (free) is worth a look
> -Mellel for technical, serious writing

Are the older versions still sold a lot? Are you saying asian
characters have no problems between PCs and Macs (sharing)?

> > 2. Read, write/type, and print Chinese and Korean documents and Web
> > pages and software that use asian characters in datas). He used both
> > MS IME (does Mac OS X comes with one?) and TwinBridge software (mostly
> > for programs that can't display asian characters correctly like in
> > Palm software with asian datas from Palm Treo 680--CJKOS; TwinBridge's
> > technical support said no products for Apple OS').
>
> -built-in IME is quite nice. No need for TwinBridge (thank god!)

> -many swear by QIM ($20)http://glider.ismac.cn/RegQIME.html

> I prefer the free Fun Input Toyhttp://fit.coollittlethings.com/

What do these third parties do that default Mac OS X's IME can't do?
Any lists of comparisons?

> > 3. Surf the Web and use Webmails via wireless connections (at home,
> > WEP -- the most it can go on his old WAP). He is used to Firefox v2
> > and IE6.
>
> no problems here

:)

> > 4. Shopping online.
>
> of course

:)

> > 5. Palm Treo 680 software and third party programs for Hotsync and
> > stuff via USB.
>
> Yes, although regrettably you will need a third-party solution to get
> acceptable syncing: Missing Sync for Palm

Darn. Do you know how it works with asian datas? CJKOS in Palm.

> > 6. Watch DVDs, video files, streaming videos from the Internet, etc.
>
> yep

:)

> > 7. Easy to use computer and requires very little support from people.
>
> yep

:)

> > 8. Compatible with his old USB printers (e.g., Epson Stylus Photo
> > 785EPX from 2001 or so?).
>
> yep

:)

> > 10. Easy to do encryption and security on datas. I had to do a lot of
> > malware cleanups (e.g., trojans) on his Windows computers. Quite
> > annoying even though I secured with bunch of programs, hosts file,
> > etc
>
> Encryption:http://www.truecrypt.org/

How about those encryption that comes with USB Flash sticks/drives
like U3? I don't recall seeing Mac OS X mentioned.

> Malware: very little, but bound to be more as OS X becomes more
> ubiquitous
> .
>
> > 11. CD and DVD burnings. I recall Mac OS X 10.2 didn't come with one
>
> Yes, DVD burning only possible with Superdrive (all MB Pros have this,
> only some MacBooks do)

I thought all new Macs have DVD burners. They still have CD burners
only?

> > 12. Plenty of USB ports (no external hubs to carry) for his mice,
> > iPod, Palm Treo 680, printer, etc.
>
> 3 USB, 1Firewire...could be better, but passable

I thought there was more. Oh well, better than one in MacBook Air!

> > Prices isn't an issue either.
>
> Good, cause it's going to cost him :)

I noticed. All stuff = $4K. Ouch!

[L KT]

On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:04 PM, Ant <ant...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

>> > 5. Palm Treo 680 software and third party programs for Hotsync and
>> > stuff via USB.
>>
>> Yes, although regrettably you will need a third-party solution to get
>> acceptable syncing: Missing Sync for Palm
>
> Darn. Do you know how it works with asian datas? CJKOS in Palm.

I have not used Missing Sync so can not comment on it, but I have
spent quite a lot of time and effort getting the Chinese data in my
Mac and my Palm TX to sync.

If you want to stick to Palm Desktop, basically you need to replace
the standard conduits with some modified ones. I can send you the pdf
file , which is in Chinese, outlining the procedure. Not sure if the
link to the modified conduits work any more though, but I can send
them to you too.

However, I am now using iSync, which syncs the Addressbook and iCal
with the Palm. This way, I need to update only 1 address book. To sync
Chinese data, you need the program "Palm Encoding Setup", which works
for quite a lot of languages. It is shareware.

Hope this helps.

Ka Tai

[TenThousandThings]

Some of this is beyond the purview of this list. There are better
places to go and ask/learn about the general capabilities of Macs
versus PCs.

> Are the older versions still sold a lot? Are you saying asian
> characters have no problems between PCs and Macs (sharing)?

Yes. There are no encoding problems, thanks to Unicode. There might be
some issues if the data is older than, say, 1997 or so, or if there
are older file formats involved -- things like that.

> What do these third parties do that default Mac OS X's IME can't do?
> Any lists of comparisons?

Go to the Chinese Mac information site, where you'll find general
descriptions of the IMEs:

http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/pages/input_methods.html#other

> > Encryption:http://www.truecrypt.org/
>
> How about those encryption that comes with USB Flash sticks/drives
> like U3? I don't recall seeing Mac OS X mentioned.

Recent Lexar drives have cross-platform encryption, like the 4GB
Jumpdrive Secure II Plus.

> I thought all new Macs have DVD burners. They still have CD burners
> only?

The $1099 MacBook has a CD burner only. All other MacBooks have DVD
burners. So you can go as low as the $1299 MacBook and still get a DVD
burner.

[Ant]

On Jul 8, 1:53 am, "L KT" <ktb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:04 PM, Ant <antd...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> > 5. Palm Treo 680 software and third party programs for Hotsync and
> >> > stuff via USB.
>
> >> Yes, although regrettably you will need a third-party solution to get
> >> acceptable syncing: Missing Sync for Palm
>
> > Darn. Do you know how it works with asian datas? CJKOS in Palm.
>
> I have not used Missing Sync so can not comment on it, but I have
> spent quite a lot of time and effort getting the Chinese data in my
> Mac and my Palm TX to sync.

Does the default iSync not support Palm Treo family or something? I
am confused why I can't use it and need Missing Sync?

> If you want to stick to Palm Desktop, basically you need to replace
> the standard conduits with some modified ones. I can send you the pdf
> file , which is in Chinese, outlining the procedure. Not sure if the
> link to the modified conduits work any more though, but I can send
> them to you too.

Darn, I can't read Chinese. :) Is there an English one and complex?

> However, I am now using iSync, which syncs the Addressbook and iCal
> with the Palm. This way, I need to update only 1 address book. To sync
> Chinese data, you need the program "Palm Encoding Setup", which works
> for quite a lot of languages. It is shareware.

Ah OK. Is this the only program available to do this? No freewares?

> Hope this helps.
>
> Ka Tai

Sure did since English forums and newsgroups didn't help due to lack
of experiences. This place rocks. :)

[Ant]

On Jul 8, 5:14 am, TenThousandThings <hello.ras...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Some of this is beyond the purview of this list. There are better
> places to go and ask/learn about the general capabilities of Macs
> versus PCs.
>
> > Are the older versions still sold a lot? Are you saying asian
> > characters have no problems between PCs and Macs (sharing)?
>
> Yes. There are no encoding problems, thanks to Unicode. There might be
> some issues if the data is older than, say, 1997 or so, or if there
> are older file formats involved -- things like that.

Perhaps, but very rare. I think that is why he used TwinBridge in
Windows. What's the workaround if that does occur? I recall he used
Chinese Windows 3.1 during early PC days too.

> > What do these third parties do that default Mac OS X's IME can't do?
> > Any lists of comparisons?
>
> Go to the Chinese Mac information site, where you'll find general
> descriptions of the IMEs:
>
> http://www.yale.edu/chinesemac/pages/input_methods.html#other

Thanks.

> > > Encryption:http://www.truecrypt.org/
>
> > How about those encryption that comes with USB Flash sticks/drives
> > like U3? I don't recall seeing Mac OS X mentioned.
>
> Recent Lexar drives have cross-platform encryption, like the 4GB
> Jumpdrive Secure II Plus.

Hmm, he has 2 GB and smaller. Can its software be upgraded to get Mac
support?

> > I thought all new Macs have DVD burners. They still have CD burners
> > only?
>
> The $1099 MacBook has a CD burner only. All other MacBooks have DVD
> burners. So you can go as low as the $1299 MacBook and still get a DVD
> burner.

Ah.

[TenThousandThings]

On Jul 8, 11:31 am, Ant <antd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Yes. There are no encoding problems, thanks to Unicode. There might be
> > some issues if the data is older than, say, 1997 or so, or if there
> > are older file formats involved -- things like that.
>
> Perhaps, but very rare. I think that is why he used TwinBridge in
> Windows. What's the workaround if that does occur? I recall he used
> Chinese Windows 3.1 during early PC days too.

The general workaround would be to move the data to Windows 2000
(good), XP (better), or Vista (best Unicode support) first and only
then migrate it to Mac OS X. But it really depends on the specific
application, file format, etc.

> > Recent Lexar drives have cross-platform encryption, like the 4GB
> > Jumpdrive Secure II Plus.
>
> Hmm, he has 2 GB and smaller. Can its software be upgraded to get Mac
> support?

I don't know, but I think it's highly unlikely. Since the one I
mentioned is only $32, it hardly seems worth the effort.